Today’s letters: Fuddle-duddle begets shiddle-diddle

Re: From Piece Of S— To Peace On Earth; Parliament’s Final Session A Thing To Behold, John Ivison, Dec. 15.
Justin Trudeau has to learn that accurate, pithy English is not Parliamentary. Instead, one has to use slightly less direct language, like … um … “fuddle duddle.” The object of his disgust will still get the point, and so will the audience. Mr. Trudeau’s honesty and accuracy may get in the way of parliamentary language, but that is what has got Canada into this mess we’re in now. Martin Aller-Stead, Toronto.

What does one expect? His father gave British Columbia the finger. Suan.H. Booiman, White Rock B.C.

Pierre Trudeau may have been disrespectful of many people, but he at least had some class. It appears his son is lacking in that department. Louise Fribance, Powell River, B.C.

After watching Justin Trudeau’s less-than-fulsome “apology” to the House, I realized that Mr. Trudeau has set a new gold standard for insincerity. Henceforth, whenever one wants to ironically refer to someone being less than genuine, the stock response will now be: “That was about as sincere as a Justin Trudeau apology.” To be sure, this is a modest achievement, but then, as is demonstrated by his vocabulary, Mr. Trudeau is a man of modest abilities. Don Macdonald, Antigonish, N.S.

Justin Trudeau should be excused for his “shiddle-diddle” moment. He really can’t help it — it’s in his genes. Douglas Cornish, Ottawa.

Just in time for Christmas, the Spirit of Trudeau returns. As Papa Pierre might say, “cher fils, truly the universe is unfolding.…” Moishe (Thomas) Goldstein, Toronto

Like father, like son. Middle-aged Liberal boy wonder Justin Trudeau updates his dad’s parliamentary “fuddle-duddle” with the cutting edge 2011 equivalent “POS” (for polite ears).
Ignorant, undisciplined and with no constructive comments to make in our Parliament, he should run for the Liberal leadership. He perfectly embodies what the Liberal Party now stands for. And Justin, show some respect: Stop wearing jeans in the House of Commons. Marty Burke, Guelph, Ont.

There is a neurological disorder, often familial, where individuals involuntarily voice expletives.
However the swear words tend to vary amongst individuals. Perhaps we have observed a variation, specifically the first such family where the expletives are confined to the use of synonyms for excrement. Unless, of course Justin Trudeau actually compared Peter Kent to a piece of Fiddle Faddle. Warren Goldstein, Toronto.

Call somebody a “piece of s–t” at work, and I am sure there will be repercussions. In the House of Commons, however, it appears to a mild source of amusement.
This just goes to show how elitist MPs are — operating in a world the rest of us don’t frequent. John Clench, Vancouver.

Justin Trudeau owes an apology to Canadians and his constituents for more than his behaviour — his bearded appearance appears to be a cross between a Musketeer and a wayward hippy from the ’60s that would rankle even his petulant, and yet more ill-behaved father. Hardly the stuff of a respected parliamentarian or an appearance he would dare show at voting time, but much consistent with a spoiled child. M. Michaels, Burlington, Ont.

The media should also wash their mouths out

On the Post’s website on Thursday, a headline asked: “Did Justin Trudeau’s four-letter obscenity take Commons’ behaviour to new low?” Yes it did. Did repeating it by the media, word for word, without the appropriate censorship of the obscenity take the Canadian media to a new low. Yup.
Either it’s an obscenity that shouldn’t be spoken, written or repeated. Or it isn’t, and any “uproar” is false. The media, like our politicians, can’t have it both ways, and should be held to the same standards. Mark Evans, Toronto.

Sports evolve — hockey must also

Re: Concussion Conundrum, Cam Cole. Dec.15.
The Canadian institution of hockey is at a crossroads and the NHL and other august hockey bodies don’t seem to realize it. A partial list of marquee NHL players who have or recently had concussions include: Sidney Crosby, Claude Giroux, Marc Savard, Chris Pronger, Andy McDonald, Peter Mueller, Kris Letang, Milan Michalek, Ryan Miller and James Reimer. The list goes on.
As serious concussions seemingly are now the rule rather than the exception, it seems a tipping point has been reached. Contributing factors include: the increased speed of the game; the increased size of the athletes; the design and hardness of the safety equipment; elimination of the red line; and increase in player salary and league revenue due to increased popularity of the game. All lead to an unacceptable level of serious injury to the heads and brains of players.
To save the game, radical changes are needed. First, let’s enlarge all North American rinks to the international size. That will result in the loss of seats and capital costs, but considering the increased speed of game and size of players, etc., it needs to be done.
Next, let’s ditch the idea that head shots, fighting and the resultant injuries are part of the game. The antecedents of polo used human heads for balls and in the original form of lacrosse, fatalities were expected.
Sports evolve. Hockey has before, and must do so again now. Jeff Brandwein, Toronto.

Niqab compromise

Re: A Ruling That Opens The Door For Muslim Women, letters to the editor, Dec. 14.
Comparing the Shafia murder trial to women who veil themselves is an extreme generalization and demonstrates just how ignorant Canadians are to the tradition of the niqab itself. Many Canadians make the assumption that all women who wear the niqab are oppressed and have no freedom to choose whether to veil themselves or not, resulting in them being compared to such rare instances such as the Shafia murder trial.
Rather than banning the niqab during the citizenship ceremony, why not request the women remove the veil during the ceremony in a room where there are only female government officials? Can there be no compromise? Andrea Jomha, Edmonton.

Quebec vs. Parisian French

Re: Parisian French Unfairly Snub­bed, letter to the editor, Dec. 14.
I could not move away from Dominique Fuseau’s letter, where he states that Parisians are not guilty of “close mindedness and lack of acceptance or others.”
I had to read this letter three times and pinch myself, as only a Parisian would make such a comment.
I am French Canadian. I was born and grew up in Quebec, did all of my schooling in French right up to university and consider myself to speak French at a strong level.
Yet my French was not good enough when I finally took that trip to France that I had dreamed about for so long. Suddenly I was in Paris and nobody could understand me. Had I collected a quarter for every snotty “Pardon?” I heard it would have paid for my trip.
Strangely enough, my problem communicating with French people seemed to vanish as I travelled through the rest of France. Pierre Chabot, Mississauga, Ont.

Yep, Parisian French is snubbed here in Quebec. Like a few languages here, it has lost its accent and acquired a lot of new words. It’s called Joual. And like a few other languages, Parisian French just sounds bad; like one is being pricked with a hat pin. Joual is more expressive and a lot more pleasant to hear; not like that sissy stuff one learns in school. You want to hear more Parisian French? Go to France. No, wait, go to Toronto! Fred K. Lee, Montreal.

A tale from the Lodz Ghetto

Re: Bringing Literary Life To The Vic­tims Of Lodz, Niru Kumar, Dec. 13.
My mother, Bronia Sonnenschein, was a survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, having been imprisoned there with her family for more than four years. She knew there were no easy answers about the authoritarian Jewish leader, Chaim Rumkowski, but believed that he generally tried to save as many Jews as possible in the agonizing circumstances.
On the question of whether he was “evil — a megalomaniac,” she might have agreed to the latter term, but would have reserved the former for the real ruler of the ghetto, its Gestapo master, Hans Biebow. As a secretary in the Jewish administration, she sometimes heard Rumkowski arguing with Biebow about his demanded deportation lists, and once witnessed him beaten by Biebow so viciously he ended up in hospital.
My mother was not displeased to learn that soon after the war, Biebow was extradited to Lodz where he was tried and hanged. Dan Sonnenschein, Vancouver.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned

Re: Catholic Parents Fear Anti-Bullying Bill Means Accepting Gays, Dec. 14.
I am one of the 45,000 members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association who gave $60 to make sure Ontairo Premier Dalton McGuinty got re-elected. I did it only for selfish personal gain. I did not know he would force his gay clubs on our schools and I can only pray he does not impose pro-abortion in our schools as well.
Forgive me Father; I realize it was only personal greed that caused me to sin. Eric Archer, Hamilton Ont.

Why should we accept that there is only one solution to a problem called bullying in our schools? There are many varieties of bullying and a variety of ways of addressing that ancient problem; not all of them involve condoning premarital sexual activity among the teenage students.
Catholic teaching on the subject has always been to label as sinful any act outside of marriage that aims at sexual gratification, alone or with a partner. The introduction and forced existence of so-called “gay-straight alliance” groups in schools, willed or not, will convey the message that we can’t or shouldn’t label as sinful, actions that have always been considered sinful.
Should we respect the actions (I do not mean the individuals) of those who perform such, when they are clearly against Christian morality? Should Christian schools, Catholic or otherwise, be coerced to speak with forked tongue on this matter? Msgr. Gregory V. Haddock, Toronto.

Little Guy From Shawinigan deserves his stature

Re: Beneath Chrétien’s Dignity, editorial, Dec. 14.
In trying to say that Jean Chrétien has some dignity, your editorial just blows off Adscam and Shawinigate in a sentence. In fact, Mr. Chrétien’s reputation is characterized by leadership of a party known for incompetence, lies and hypocrisy.
If ever a party had a hidden agenda, it was the Chrétien Liberals in the 1993 election. Not a word about the gun registry that was promptly installed soon after.
Mr. Chrétien’s dignity and reputation? He has neither as far as I’m concerned. Brian Purdy, Calgary.

The two main complaints Jean Chrétien has about Stephen Harper concern the things that the Liberals did in bad faith.
First, the Liberals signed onto the Kyoto Accord, the terms of which they completely ignored for the remainder of their time in office, leaving a potential liability for Canadians having to compensate Third World nations for carbon credits.
Secondly, they tasked Allan Rock, a man who publicly espoused his belief that “only police and military should have firearms” in Canada, with the job of creating a regime for the lawful ownership of firearms, even though we had a perfectly workable one already in place. The result was inevitable and predictable, and serves as an object lesson that partisan politics and emotional rhetoric make for poor legislation. The Little Guy From Shawinigan has gotten just a wee bit smaller. Robert S. Sciuk, Oshawa, Ont.

Your editorial calls Jean Chrétien “the most successful Canadian politician of his time” on the strength of his three majority governments. But was he merely the beneficiary of a political landscape where the right was divided? In 1993, Mr. Chrétien’s Liberals took 41.2% of the popular vote and with that a majority government largely because the right was split between Reform (18.7%) and Progressive Conservative (16%). In 1997, they won another majority, this time with only 38.5% of the popular vote. Again, the right was split between Reform (19.4%) and the PCs (18.8%).
In 2000, the Liberals took their third straight majority with 40.9% of the vote, but once again the right was split between the Canadian Alliance (25.5%) and the PCs (12.2%). If Mr. Chrétien was the most successful Canadian politician of his time, Preston Manning should get honorary mention as the architect who made it all possible. Give credit where credit is due. Jerry Amernic, Toronto.

In the wake of a Grammy Awards ceremony that disappointed many, from Kanye West to the masses on Twitter lamenting the state of pop music, a historical perspective is key. Few are better poised to offer one than Andy Kim.